Population of the Village of Vetren Dol

No one knows when the Turkish people left the village. This was long time ago according to the legend, which says, that the local people did not endure the Turks. This might be true, because there is not even one Turkish name in the vicinity.1633 there were 55 old and 30 new Bulgarian houses. Much later in 19-th century in Eli dere (Vetren dol) was built a small Turkish farm in the northern part of the village. It was owned by Hadji Sheriff from Pazardjik. Then it belonged to its son Osman, till liberation day in 1878 and then it was destroyed. Only one man from the village used to work there. The others were from the villages nearby. The population of Vetren dol worked anyway for the Turkish rice fields.

The Bulgarian population of Vetren dol consists of locals and migrants. The locals are ancestors of the local Bulgarian population from the middle ages. An old investigation shows, that the locals are: Zlatanovi, Marinovi, Macanovi, Kazakovi, Iosevi, Djorilovi, Zelengorovi, Milovi, Brichevi, Gatevi, Zaikovi, Madjarovi, Stoianovi, Borsukovi, Delipenovi, Popkunevi, Mitrevi, Bojkovi and Pishmishevi. Zlatanovi and Marinovi are the numerous ones.

The wealthy and pretty land of Vetren dol attracted many immigrants from the Turkish time until now. These are: Slavkovi and Anevi from Razlog, which belong to the same family; Penchovi, Pashevi-Razlog/Bansko; Kunevi and Tanevi from Tikvesh-. Others immigrants from Turkish time : Georgievi, Pashevi, Ristiovi from Boshulia, Stoichovi from Samokov, Stefanovi from Stolnik, Kostadinovi from Varvara, Chernogorovi from Cherna gora and others. Noon knows if this immigration had something to do with the old iron production industry. Immigrants after the Liberation from the Turkish yoke are: some families like Avramovi from the villages Kovachevica, Ognianovo, Skrebatno -Goce Delchev town region, from Belica and Razlog, which settled here after the Ilinden riot in 1903. Here settled also 3 or 4 families from Patalenica, 2 families Chavdarovi from Vetren, others from Karabunar, Cruncha, Lozen, Goliamo Belovo and Sestrimo. In 1913 in Vetren dol 32 families' refugees arrived from Lakos, Orehovica, Dudlii, and Gorno Brodi -Seres region of Macedonia (now in Greece). 1924-1925 23 families' refugees from Drama and Seres settled in Vetren dol. Later on from northern Bulgaria 7 houses were bought from vlasi gypsies-called kopanari. All those people were attracted by the poplar trees near Chepinska River and all the channels and richness of water. Finally there were 10 gypsies' houses tinsmiths and agriculture workers. The emigrants from Vetren dol are very few with only one exception in the period 1946-1956. In site of all the immigrants in the village the old language, dresses, traditions and customs of the locals prevailed. The locals are rhodopean population, who speak east Bulgarian dialect with a certain transition to the west dialect.

There are no dates about the development of the village in 17 and 18 century. Like the other villages in the vicinity Vetren dol suffered epidemic diseases and it was ruined from the Turkish gangs, because it was close to the main road to Rhodopean Mountains.

During the Crimean war there were 35 houses in Vetren dol. In 1865 -ten years before the Liberation there were 46 houses and 180 men, which along with the women were no more no less than 360 people. After the Liberation from the five century of Turkish yoke according to the first official census in 1884 the inhabitants were 497. 1892 -698 people; 1900-753 people; 1910-991 people; 1920-1239 people; 1926-1639 people; 1934-1764 people; 1946-1951 people; 1956-1831 people; 1965-1735 people and 410 houses; march 2001 last official census-1747 people and march 2004 -1796 people. It is clear, that after the Liberation and especially after 1896/1897, when the main road through the gorge was built and the village became the main point of this road, the population increased. After 1926 when the narrow gauge train through the gorge from Septemvri to Dobriniste was built and also a road connection to Septemvri railway station the increase stops. In 1946 -when the water mills were destroyed and the cooperative farming began-1949 the population of Vetren dol decreased. The intelligence went to Pazardjik. In its development the village grew in direction to the main road to Pazardjik and east towards the Golak hill.

In Vetren dol nowadays (17.03.2004) live 1996 people. 1796 are permanently living in the village and 200 temporally. The ethnic structure is as follows: 1691-bulgarians, 289-gypsies, 14 -Russians, 1 Serbian and 1 Englishman. The religious structure is relatively homogeneous -97% Orthodox Christians. The age structure is as it follows. .
The age structure is as it follows:

Children:	under 7 years	from 7 to 14 years	from 15 to 17 years
	138	237	68

Adults:	from 18 to 55	above 55	above 60
women	418	252	-
men	521	-	157

The population from these figures lives in 580 houses or average 3 people in a family. This excludes the villa zone "Batalite", where on land of 550 decares there are 70 villas and land with 310 owners. There are 36 streets in Vetren dol. With the right to vote are 1327 from 1796 and the people, who voted in the last elections for mayor are 868. The unemployed people in Vetren dol are 30-these are the official registered unemployed people in the municipality centre for social cares. The percentage of unemployment is 30 from 939 people or 3.19 %!

According to the census in 2011 there are 1 438 people living in Vetren dol.

Please note last dates and figures refer to April 2011!